Author: John Fleskes

James Bama Sketchbook: A Seventy Year Journey, Traveling from the Far East to the Old West

ISBN: 978-1-933865-24-9
paperbound $24.95
Full color, 8.5 x 11
144 pages
Coming spring 2010 from Flesk Publications

The story behind James Bama’s most enduring paintings are revealed in this personal journey.

Close to 230 sketches reveal the thoughts and process of this legendary artist. Travel along this lifelong journey with James Bama, as he chronicles the lives of those that inspired his art. This is the story behind the paintings.

Numerous sketches provide the background for some of his most famous fine art paintings. A large selection of preliminaries show the many ideas recorded for unfinished pieces. This book represents the first time Bama has opened his sketch archives to the public.

Pencil sketches, and color composition drawings from his entire career are included. His preliminaries span works from his early teens, student years, and as a professional illustrator. However, the majority of works feature his fine art career: Native American, western, wildlife, mountain men, and landscape art inspired by the environment of his Wyoming home. Also included are works from his travels to China, Mexico, Tibet and Turkey.

JAMES BAMA: Born in 1926, James Bama has led a long and varied art career. As a youth in New York City, he graduated from the High School of Music and Art. Following his service in the U.S. Army Air Corps, he studied at the Art Students League with such notable instructors as Frank Reilly. Afterwards, he began a 15-year relationship at the Charles E. Cooper Studios. As a freelancer, he produced art for the Baseball Hall of Fame, New York Giants, and U.S. Air Force.

Bama’s second career as a fine artist began in the mid-60s. After a few initial visits to Wyoming, in 1968 he decided to stay for good. During this time he progressed from an illustration career to more personal works, inspired by the environment of his new home. Contemporary Western and Native American subjects dominated much of his time. His peers and fans alike have heralded his realistic approach to the traditional and modern west. This career change resulted in a significant increase in fame and success.

Bama was the recipient of the Spectrum Grand Master Award in 1998, and the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame Award in 2000. His previous book collections include The Western Art of James Bama (1975), The Art of James Bama (1993), and James Bama: American Realist (2006).

Harvey Dunn: Illustrator and Painter of the Pioneer West
By Walt Reed
Edited by Roger Reed
Introduction by Lynn Verschoor, director, South Dakota Art Museum

Hardbound with jacket $50.00
304 pages with 73 black and white and 294 color plates. 12.5 x 9.75
ISBN: 978-1-933865-19-5
Coming spring 2010 from Flesk Publications

Harvey Dunn was one of twentieth century America’s most powerful illustrators, painters and teachers. This comprehensive volume covers a major portion of his illustrations and paintings for the first time. Content includes illustration art, pioneer and western works, and his powerful World War I pieces inspired by his battlefield sketches. Also included are the rarely seen nudes, portraits, and murals. Paintings from museums and private collections showcase the full range of this talented American artist.

For this book, many original paintings were tracked down and re-photographed in order to reintroduce the work of this important artist. Until now, most of Dunn’s paintings and illustrations have been unavailable to the public in their original form.

Locations of pictures in public collections are listed, as are the original publication dates and places. Additionally, a section is devoted to the artist’s working and teaching methods. Also included is a reprinting of Dunn’s “An Evening in the Classroom,” compiled from notes made during critiques, passing on his inspirational teaching philosophy. A comprehensive list of Dunn’s students with sample art is included as well.

WALT REED: In 1974 Walt Reed founded Illustration House, Inc. Reed was part of the instructional staff of the Famous Artists School. There he worked with some of America’s most prominent illustrators, including Norman Rockwell, Stevan Dohanas, Robert Fawcett and Albert Dorne. His previous books include, The Illustrator in America, Harold von Schmidt Draws and Paints the Old West, Great American Illustrators, and The Art of Tom Lovell. Reed was editor for North Light Publications in 1972-1976. He designed the Bicentennial 50 State Flag stamps and has been a consultant on several subsequent stamp projects.

ROGER REED is president of the Illustration House gallery. Roger has written articles for American Art Review, Step-by-Step Graphics and other magazines, and edited Illustrator in America. Roger has curated or arranged exhibitions of illustrative art at the Brandywine River Museum, the Society of Illustrators in New York, and J.C. Leyendecker’s first museum retrospective at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1997. He is on the Permanent Collection Committee of the Society of Illustrators in New York and has consulted for other museums in the authentication of works of illustrators.

Many people have been asking us about when Storms at Sea by Mark Schultz will be coming out. The answer continues to be “coming soon” although no date is set yet. Ideally, Mark would like it to appear in the fall of 2010. The actual release date will be determined once Mark finishes all of the illustrations for the book.

Schultz is the first person to admit that the pieces are taking much longer than he expected. As proof that artwork is being produced, enjoy the recently completed artwork showcased above. Keep checking back as I will be posting more of Mark’s Storms at Sea drawings in the months to come.

Enjoy!

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications

Here’s an update on the latest news here at Flesk.

I sent off the two new William Stout books to the printer last week. They are Dinosaur Discoveries and New Dinosaur Discoveries A-Z. I will be reviewing the first set of wet proofs later this week, and will go from there. My goal is to have them out in December.

I’m very happy with how both books came out. Randy Dahlk, who designed our Prehistoric Life Murals, Al Williamson’s Flash Gordon, and the Mark Schultz Various Drawings books, designed these two new Stout books as well. He did a terrific job!

The kids A-Z version is something that everyone can enjoy. Stout fans can pick up this book to share their passion for his work with their children.

The birth of these two books is the result of a brainstorming session between Bill Stout and myself. We started by tossing back and forth ideas we had for books. I sent Bill nine ideas, and he came back with another fifteen, giving us two-dozen projects to consider! It’s fun working with highly creative people.

One idea was a book filled with his pen and ink dinosaur drawings that were colored in using watercolor. I love this particular method by Bill. When I suggested this, Bill let me know he already had an A-Z dinosaur book partially done that he had started with Byron Preiss as publisher. With Byron’s passing in 2005, the book had been shelved. I immediately wanted to publish this. Stout, plus dinosaurs, equals a cool book!

After further discussion with Bill, then Aaron Silverman and Gabriel Wilmoth at my distributors offices, SCB Distributors, to gain their insight into how they think the book will be received in the marketplace, and further discussion with Randy Dahlk (whose opinion I highly value), the single A-Z book turned into a big 144-page dinosaur book, and a 64-page A-Z kids companion book.

When I was at SCB, Aaron pointed out that having “A-Z” in the title would automatically label the book as an ages 4-5 kid’s book (which Randy was telling me from the beginning, which is why I was asking Aaron for his feedback), when in fact it wasn’t originally. After some discussion, Gabriel said “two books” just as I was thinking the same thing, and I said “Ya!” I called Bill right away, and he liked the idea of two books, too.

We took the A-Z off of the title of the original book, and then made a fresh edition for kids with a simpler and larger font text, and a fun smaller hardbound format. Books really can take on different shapes and sizes and it is not uncommon for the content to adjust and change during these brainstorming sessions. It was happy to have a good group of guys, all of whom I value their opinion, help shape these books into the final form. We’re all happy with these two versions. Again, I’ll have these out in December.

In the meantime, I am working on two books that are getting close to completion. The first book is Harvey Dunn: Illustrator and Painter of the Pioneer West by Walt Reed. This is the definitive book on this powerful painter, illustrator, and teacher! Hardbound with jacket $49.95, 304 pages with 73 black and white and 294 color plates. 12.5 x 9.75 x 1 in. This will be available in spring 2010.

The other book I am working on is James Bama Sketchbook: A Seventy Year Journey, Traveling from the Far East to the Old West. This full color paperbound $24.95, 8.5 x 11, 144 pages will be available in spring 2010 as well.

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications